


Miss Matchmaker

by annieoakley1



Category: Hunger Games (2012), Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-29 01:26:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annieoakley1/pseuds/annieoakley1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eleven-year-old Prim has decided that it’s time for her sister to get a love life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miss Matchmaker

The tree house was really Katniss’s, something their father had built for her when Prim was still just a baby.  But Katniss didn’t use it much after his death, and when Prim got a little older, it became hers.

It was wonderful:  built sturdy and high in the old sycamore right in their front yard.  Prim could see for blocks from up there.  Now she wasn’t able to see  _too_ far (Hawthorne’s Garage or Mellark’s Bakery were in town and out of sight) but it provided a bird’s-eye view of their entire neighborhood.  It was just too bad that the neighborhood was so  _boring_.  Still, it was nice to go up there and think.  She shared a room with Katniss, but the tree house was her own. 

One fall afternoon, when it was almost too cold outside to still be using it, Prim was sitting in the tree house and feeling guilty.  Katniss’s homecoming weekend was approaching but she wasn’t going, and it was yet another case of her sister missing out.  Even though Katniss insisted she didn’t even  _want_ to go, she still felt bad.  Prim went on sleepovers with her friends, or she’d bike into town or, in the summer, she’d meet up with Rue to swim at the park’s pool.  But Katniss never did anything fun.

No, Katniss was too busy taking care of Prim and the house while their mother worked long hours at the hospital.  While other 15-year-olds were having fun at the mall with their friends, or going to school football games or dances or on dates, Katniss was at home with Prim.  Making her dinner, or helping with her homework, or washing the dishes and doing all the laundry. 

It was a downright shame, really, and it was something Prim set out to fix. 

What Katniss needed, she decided, was a date.  

**

To be honest, Gale would have been her first choice for her sister.  He was  _so_ handsome and big and strong, and they were the very best of friends and had known each other forever, and that was the epitome of romance.  But Gale was busy with his job since he graduated in the spring, and if he didn’t have time to hang out with Katniss anymore, then he certainly didn’t have time to date her.

So she’d have to find someone else.  But who?  As she sat in the tree house and contemplated her options, she realized there weren’t many boys in Katniss’s grade who passed the Prim test.  Most were already hanging off some other girl, their faces impossibly close as they sat on the steps leading into the school.  Some guys stood together in groups, talking loudly about sports and cars and other things Katniss had no interest in, and even if the perfect guy was right there, Prim wouldn’t be able to find him in the sea of teenage dumbasses.

There were a few boys that were always by themselves; they were usually off to the side and scowling at all the other kids.  Prim considered some of them before concluding that her sister scowled enough for everyone.  Besides, she was pretty terrified of talking to any of those guys on Katniss’s behalf.

So she really had to keep an eye out.  Surely in a town of 8,000 there was at least _one_  datable boy who could handle someone as difficult as her sister, right? 

One day, while she was waiting for Katniss outside the school so they could walk home together, she noticed a boy watching her.  Prim frowned, uncomfortable with the idea of any of the teenagers looking her way.  She’d get Katniss to threaten him if she had to.  But the boy’s face fell when she narrowed her eyes in his direction, and then his face lit up, just for a second, before he averted his gaze again.

“Ready to go, Little Duck?” Katniss asked, tugging on the sleeve of Prim’s coat. 

Prim nodded in agreement, but she was still watching the boy.  He was laughing now at something one of the other guys said, and he didn’t turn his head again to look their way.  Prim made a note of that.

**

Peeta Mellark liked Katniss, Prim soon realized.  She could see it.  Heck, maybe _everyone_  could see it.  But Katniss, poor sweet oblivious Katniss, could not.

So Prim started to study the way he would watch her sister while they were walking home.  Peeta was always surrounded by a group of friends outside the school, but he’d freeze the moment Katniss came into sight.  Then he tried so hard to cover it up and play it cool, but his eyes still always tried to find her.

Once Prim noticed this detail, it felt impossible to miss all the others.  In the hallways, his eyes unfailingly flitted in her direction whenever she was in sight, like he just had to steal a glance at Katniss if she were around him.  Sometimes he lingered a little too long, and it seemed like Katniss could feel the heat of his stare, and she’d look up and he’d look away as color blossomed on his cheeks.

She stared up at the tree house’s tin roof and considered this boy.  He was certainly cute, with wavy blond hair and azure eyes.  His family owned the bakery, so that was good.  But, most importantly, he seemed to already like Katniss.  And if that was the case, not only did he have impeccable taste, but half of Prim’s battle was already won.

**

“Did you study for your math test?” Katniss asked as she cleared their dinner plates from the kitchen table.

“Yeah,” Prim said before taking a drink of milk.  Katniss watched her unbelievingly and Prim had to work very hard not to roll her eyes.  If she did, it’d just be another thing Katniss reported to their mother.  “I did!”

“You’re in harder classes now, Prim,” Katniss reminded her, as if she could somehow forget.  “You’re going to have to work more for those A’s.”

Prim tried to remember that her dear,  _sweet_  older sister only meant well.  “I know,” she replied only a little tersely.  “I do.”

Katniss continued, oblivious to her sister’s annoyance.  “Especially with Ms. Coin.  I remember her exams, Prim, and they’re anything but-”

“I’m going to go out to the tree house,” Prim said, unable to take anymore.  “I’ll be back in time for  _Glee._ ”

“No you’re not,” Katniss said, pulling her back by the hood of her sweatshirt.  “It’s like 40 degrees outside.  Why don’t you go study some more?”

Prim glared at her as Katniss loaded up the dishwasher.  Yeah, she needed to do something about this  _now._

**

 

She always walked past the bakery on her way to the library, because she liked to look at the cakes in the window.  So she was just doing what she always did, right?

She slowed, like she always did, and admired the different displays.  Usually she had friends with her, but since she skipped a grade to start junior high early, most of her walks to the library were solo. 

She peeked past her own reflection to see if anyone was behind the counter, and Peeta’s eyes met hers.  His mouth quirked up in a friendly smile, and he waved.  She hesitated for a second, but ultimately waved back.  Then he waved back again, but backwards, and Prim was frozen in her spot when she realized he was motioning for her to come in. 

But she wasn’t ready yet!  She didn’t have any questions prepared!

He beckoned to her once more and she bit her lip before deciding to talk to him now.  Katniss, sweet  _stupid_  Katniss, was growing more unbearable by day, anyhow.

“Hi!” he said brightly when she walked through the door.  “You interested in one of those wedding cakes there?”

“Uh, no,” she said, confused as she glanced over at the window.  “I’m 11.”

He leaned forward, his elbows resting on the counter.  “Ahhh.  You know, I never would have guessed.”  She didn’t want to stray too far from her exit, but she couldn’t help but watch curiously as he went to one of the cases and pulled out a cookie.  “I think I go to school with your sister,” he said as he selected different treats with the wax paper.   _Think_? Prim nearly snorted.  Yeah, right. 

“Kat…something,” he continued, and she almost guffawed.  Like he doesn’t know her name.  Prim was born in May, but not  _last_ May.  Geesh, teenagers.

She can play it cool, too, though.  “Katniss.”  She took the cookies from his extended hand, and he nodded animatedly.  “Yeah, Katniss.  That’s it.”

_Right._

**

It turned out that Peeta Mellark was really easy to talk to.  She usually walked to the library every Friday afternoon, but now she made a detour trip to the bakery each time, too.  It was a nice little get away from her sweet, annoying,  _infuriating_ sister, especially since it was far too cold to stay up in the tree house anymore.  Plus Peeta set up a stool near one of the counters and she sat there and “taste tested” some of the cookies as he worked.  His father was always in the back, either in the kitchen or his office, but when he came out front, he’d shove more pastries under her nose.  “I think I went to school with your mom,” he said once, chuckling as Prim’s eyes widened.   

She usually vented about her problems with school and her friends, and Peeta would always listen sympathetically.  So then she’d throw him a bone and mention something about Katniss, because she figured that if she ever got a massive crush on someone, she’d want the same.

He tried to act super casual whenever she brought up her sister, but she knew he was memorizing every word.  Boys in love were so cute.  Really.

“So I’m picking up the Jetta next week,” he said, grinning.  He liked to talk about his car that he’s been saving up for since he was six, but so far as Prim could tell, it was his only true flaw.  She could forgive it.

“That’s nice,” she said with a mouthful of peanut butter cookie.  “What color are you getting?”

“Orange!”

“Orange?” she repeated.  “Ew. Why?”

He laughed.   “It’s my favorite color.  And it’s distinct, you know?  It won’t get lost in a sea of silver in the parking lot.”

She considered it for a minute and then decided now was a good a time as any.  “You know, you should ask Katniss out,” she mentioned, and he nearly dropped the tray of cupcakes he was carrying.  “Since you’ll have your own car and all.  You can take her on a real date!”

“I, uh… _what_?  No!  She’ll say no!”  Aw, he was so flustered.  Prim took pity on him immediately.  And he wasn’t wrong.  Katniss would totally say no.  But thankfully, Prim had an arsenal of weapons on her side now, since Katniss was always going on about how Prim needed to try and make new friends and put herself out there and be more open to experiencing different things.  Also, Prim was ace in laying on the guilt.  She hopped off the stool and shoved the rest of the cookies from the plate into her coat pocket.  “Don’t worry about that.  I’ll handle it.” 

**

It’d been a long two weeks, but Prim finally had Katniss right where she needed to be, and so she met Peeta at the bakery to get the ball rolling.

“So ask her right after school, okay?  Just be sweet about it and you’ll be fine.  And I’ll be  _right there._ ”  Of course, she had to be right there.  It was an imperative part of the plan.

He was nervously balling the bottom of his apron in his hands, and he looked so pensive.  “Are you sure about this, Prim?  I mean, all this going behind her back….isn’t it a little creepy?”

“Creepy?  Are you kidding?  This is adorable.  This is like a Disney movie!”

His face was still bright pink, but he took a deep breath and nodded.  “Okay.  All right.  I can do this.”

“Great!” Prim said, grinning happily.  “There’s just one more thing we need to get out of the way first.”  She reached into her backpack and grabbed the ink blots.  “Now tell me, Peeta…what do you see?”

“What?” he asked, now trying to smooth out the winkles in his apron as he squinted at the cards she held up.  “A  _Rorschach test_?  Are you serious?”

“You just can’t be too sure these days, Peeta.”  He sighed, but studied the cards carefully.  Personally, Prim thought this one looked like two bloody pigs wielding swords, but wow, she really hoped he didn’t say that. 

“Uh…kittens.  I see kittens playing in a basket of yarn.”

Well, she already invested a lot of time in all of this, so she guessed she could forgive the obvious lie.  He just wanted it so badly.  “All right,” she relented.   “Now let’s get you a date!”

**

It was the warmest spring day yet, and Prim sat up in the tree house for hours reading her Nancy Drew books.  But it’d be getting dark soon, and that meant Katniss would be home any minute from her first date with Peeta.  It just happened to be convenient that Prim had front row seats for the drop off.

Getting Katniss to say yes had not been easy.  It was actually one of the hardest things Prim ever had to do, and of course she said no to Peeta the first time he asked that day after school.  Peeta flashed a look of hurt in his surprise, but he covered it up quickly with a smile and said, “Well, maybe some other time, then.”  It was exactly what he needed to do without any prompting from Prim, and she knew that Katniss would relent.  And she did, the next day even, and probably no one was more surprised than Peeta when she asked if he still wanted to see that movie opening this weekend.

She threw down her book when she heard the soft hum of Peeta’s Jetta pull into their driveway.  She could only make out a few of their words as Peeta walked Katniss to the front stoop, but from there she could see them perfectly.

Damn, she still couldn’t hear them talk, but she heard something about mini-golf, and Peeta had his hands in the front pocket of his jeans, which one of his nervous ticks, so she figured it was an invitation for a second date.  She released a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding when Katniss finally nodded.

Peeta smiled and wished her a good night, turning away as Katniss entered their house.  ‘Good job,’ Prim thought as she watched Peeta walk away, the grin never leaving his face even as he got into his car.  She’d warned Peeta that he’d have to take things slow with Katniss, and she was proud of him for following through and not trying anything. 

Yes, it was all coming together perfectly.

**

 

It was their third date, and Prim was perched in the tree house, watching anxiously as Peeta told her sister goodnight.  The poor guy practically had cartoon hearts in his eyes, he was so taken.  And Katniss, as stoic as she may seem, obviously liked him, too.  She even smiled at him, and she never smiled at anyone.

But there was a problem, because Peeta wasn’t moving.  He wasn’t turning away like he was supposed to, and Katniss was knotting her fingers together anxiously.  Prim watched with trepidation as Peeta licked his lips, his eyes on Katniss’s mouth.  Katniss’s eyes were wide with terror as Peeta ever so slightly leaned forward. 

Prim poked her head out of the tree house, willing him with all of her might to _stop._   No, no, no, this was too soon and he was going to scare Katniss off.  What was he even doing?  He would ruin everything!

She leaned out further, terrified that all of the planning and patience was going to be blown to smithereens with this one dumb move.  Prim’s hands were resting on the branch in front of her as time slowed around all of them.  He was still inching closer, his head ducking slightly to align with Katniss’s.  ‘Oh no!’ she thought again, craning her neck.  It was a like a car crash and she couldn’t look away.  

How many times had she told him that he needed to move slowly with Katniss?  How  many times did she-

“PRIM!”

She heard them frantically calling her name, saw them dashing into the yard and running to her, but all she could focus on was the excruciating, blinding pain in her left arm.  Her elbow.  She must have landed on her elbow.

Tears were streaming down her face as she sat up, and nothing in her life had ever hurt as bad as this.  Peeta scooped her up in his arms, careful to not touch the elbow she was cradling so cautiously.  Katniss sat with her in the backseat of his car as they drove to the hospital, and Prim was sobbing hysterically by the time they got to the ER.   But when the doctor gave her a shot, she passed out, and it was a welcomed sleep.

**

“Hey you.”  She slowly opened her eyes to find Peeta watching her carefully, and he sighed in relief when she smiled at him.  There was a nurse fluttering around the room, and Prim couldn’t move her arm, which seemed to be in a temporary brace of some sort, but heck, she felt great!

“Katniss went to find your mom, but they’ll be here any second, okay?  And then you have to go off to surgery.  But everything’s going to be all right.”

“Course it will,” she slurred.  It felt like she was floating.  She was warm and happy and  _floating._

“You really scared us there, Prim.”

Wait, there was something she had to tell him!  If only she could remember.  She reached out with her good arm and tried to pat his hand with her own, but she was missing by inches.  “Oh, Peeta,” she said.  “Peeta.  Pee-TA.  Peeeee-TAH.”  He had such a weird name.

“What is it, Prim?”  He leaned in, a look of concern on his face.

“You are a precious jewel, Peeta,” she said, though she was pretty sure that wasn’t what she wanted to say earlier.  “And I?  I am a bird.  A flying birdddd.”

“That medicine’s pretty good, huh?” he asked with a grin.  “But I don’t think you’ll be flying anymore, Bird.  Your sister wants to take a sledgehammer to that tree house now, you know.”

“Yeah, but she’d hafta get through me first!”  She tried to motion to herself with her thumb but only succeeded in nearly poking out her eye, and the last thing she remembered was Peeta’s chuckle as he held her hand and she floated away into sleep.

**

This was officially the worst summer ever.  Her entire left arm was covered in a monster cast, so she couldn’t swim, or ride her bike, or pretty much do anything that she liked to normally do. 

Peeta and Katniss had been really nice about bringing her along everywhere they went, so she wasn’t necessarily dying from boredom or anything.  There were lots of trips with them to the zoo and movies to pass the time.  But lately she was starting to feel like a third wheel.  Not that  _they_  made her feel that way, but really, how much fun could a date be with a 12-year-old tagging along? 

So earlier she made up a story about plans with Rue that night so the two could finally be alone, and yeah, she didn’t miss the look of relief on Katniss’s face when she said it. 

After they left, she snuck up into the tree house for the first time since her fall.  She knew Katniss would kill her if she found out, but she was grumpy and frustrated and she didn’t really care right now what her sister thought.

Where was she, anyway?  She should have been back from her date with Peeta by now. 

Prim settled back in with a good book, and when it got too dark to read it comfortably, she pulled out a flashlight and finished it with that.  A soft rain had started about an hour ago, and the few drops that escaped the leaves and fell onto the tin roof made a relaxing pinging sound.

But really, they should have been back already.  They should have been back hours ago. 

Suddenly she sat up, panicked.  What if they were in an accident?  What if Peeta wrecked in the rain and it was like that old Pearl Jam song Katniss played?  What if they were both dying,  _right now?_

She moved to the west corner of the tree house and peered out the little window her father had constructed long ago.  There, about a block away, she spotted Peeta’s orange Jett along the curb.  Now what in the world were they doing parked there?

How dare they make her worry like that!  What’s wrong with them?  Of all the low and rude things to do to an injured little girl.

She was still muttering to herself as she carefully crawled down the rope ladder, and she ignored the water drops pelting her face as she marched down the street, incensed by their inconsiderateness. 

She stopped at the passenger side door,  and all the windows were fogged up so she couldn’t see inside, but that didn’t stop her from pounding the side of her fist against the glass as she yelled for Katniss.

Finally, the window rolled down, and Katniss’s flushed face greeted her.  “Prim!  What are you doing?”

“I could ask you the same thing, missy!” She poked her head through opening and glared at Peeta.  His hair was sticking all up and his lips were swollen, and was that Katniss’s strawberry lip gloss smeared all around his mouth?  Teenagers!  You can’t take them anywhere.

“Come on, let’s go Prim,” Katniss said, scrambling to get out of the car.  Her hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders, and Prim eyed her suspiciously because she knew for a fact it was in a braid when Katniss left. 

She threw one more dirty look at Peeta as Katniss led her away.  “I’ll call you later,” Katniss told him, and Prim scoffed.

“I could tell mom, you know,” Prim said, but it was an empty threat and they both knew it.

“Now why would you go and do that when your arm is so close to healing?” Katniss warned with a clenched jaw.

The rain stopped as they started the very short walk back home.  “Katniss?” Prim said with false sweetness.  “You got a little something on your neck there.”

“Shut up, Prim.”


End file.
